Nail polish



i the nails in the interim. Considerable attention amount for theaverage person Patented Sept. 24, 1940 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE NAILromsn Robert J. Anderson, Bloomfield, N. J., assignor to TheVoracCompany, Newark, N. J., a corporation of New Jersey No Drawing.

Application January 14, 1938, Serial No. 184,928

b 3 Claims. (01. wi -s5) 'lhis invention relates toimprovements in nailpolish, and more particularly to a nail polish designed to overcomecertain objections. to nail polishes heretofore used. i

. The useof nail polish has become very extensive and most users applypolish once a Week oroftener, leaving the film of solids as acoating onhas been directed to the fact that this use of nail polish isresponsible,,at least in part, for inducl 1, within a matter of secondsafter application;

therefore, if anyofthe natural oils are removed by such solvents, itwould be a relatively small who applies nail polish only once a week. i

. Attempts have also been made to overcome brittleness by supplying oilsto nails which have become brittle, by a treatment supplementary to theuse of nail polish. Such supplementary treatments can only be temporaryatbest, and,

furthermore, any oils. left by these treatments would be as readilytaken up by the polish sol vents as the natural oils would be.

Nails are. humantissue andthe growth and quality thereof are stimulatedby contact with air and water vapor. In this case, nails might be saidto breathe somewhat after the fashion of b skin itself. Medical opinionagrees that the nails are fed by glands underneath the nails, thenatural oilscoming outthrough the nails. Continuous retardation of thissecretion from the glands by the use of a tight coating over the nailmay gradually eliminate the glands or at least reduce their activity,and for this reason nail brittle- Another object of this invention is toprovide.

a nail polish containing a water soluble ingredient which will beremoved from the solidified film of nail polish when the nails are firstplaced in water. i

It is also an object of my invention to accomplish the foregoing objectsand still retain the ticizer.

phthalate or other plasticizers, is desirable be- 35 desiredcharacteristics of nail polish of easy flow andsmoothness of coating,good adhesion of the polish to the nail, good wear resistance of thepolish and other recognized desirable characteristics of nail polish.

The inventionwill be described in connection with specific compositionsof nail lish within the scope of my invention. It is to be understoodthat the invention may be readily practiced with other compositions ofpolish.

Various solvents-rnay be employed in the nail polish, the more importantfeature in connection with this invention being the proper formulationof the solids content thereof. The base of the solids is preferablyIntro-cellulose, and for this purpose, I prefer to employ low viscositynitro cellulose, such as A to /2 second viscosity nitrocellulose.Insteadofvusing a base for the polish consisting entirely ofnitro-cellulose, I prefer to substitute for a portion thereof a quantityof ethyl] cellulose. The quantity of ethyl cellulose used may be equalto the quantity ofnitro-cellulose for which it is substituted. Thisuseof a mixture of a smaller proportion of ethyl cellulose with a majorproportion of nitro-celiulose produces a more pervious film than wouldbe obtained by the use of nitro-cellulose alone, the

film is rendered much more flexible, is more stable because it is morenearly neutral, and has a greater resistance to caustic alkali such asencountered in the use of detergents. V

The user of a mixture of 'nitro-cellulose and ethyl cellulose alsorequires less use 01 a plas- Use of a plasticizer, such as dibutylcauseit affords a good measure of controlof the flexibility of the film ofpolish. This control is quiteimportant because the film must besufficiently flexible to withstand the flexing of the nails, and at thesame time hard enough to with- 40 stand the abrasion to which it issubjected in ordinary wear. Gum carnphor has some value as aplasticizer, and it also has some bearing on improvement of the adhesionand gloss of the film. Resins including synthetic and natural resins areuseful primarily'to improve the adhesion and increase the gloss of thefilm. Liquid synthetic resins are particularly desirable because theyact somewhat ,as a plasticizer as well as increase the gloss of the filmof polish. Many such resins and combinations of resins can be used toproduce the desired results in the finished product.

The foregoing ingredients may be easily combined to provide a basicsolids mixture for use in connection with my invention. This inventionis concerned with the formation on a nail of an air and moisturepervious film of polish. This may be accomplished by the formulation ofa solids content which leaves a film of this character upon drying. Forexample, some degree of porosity may be obtained in a nail polish filmdirectly, by using a substantial quantity of ethyl cellulose as in thefollowing composition.

Larger amounts of ethyl cellulose than indicated above could be readilyemployed, with suitable adjustment in the proportions of the otheringredients, to provide a further increase in porosity of the dried filmof polish.

A particularly satisfactory way of carrying out my invention is byadding to the nail polish a water soluble substance. The dried film on anail is then rendered air and moisture pervious when the film is firstplaced in water by the dissolving of the water soluble constituent.

In this manner, the polish while being worn, allows access of air andwater to the nail surface and will not induce brittleness in the nail tothe extent that tight films of polish do. Acidic or basic ingredientsare not helpful and may be harmful to the nails. For this reason, Iprefer to employ a substantially neutral porosity producing ingredient.Crystalline substances may seriously impair the desired appearance,gloss and/or adhesion of the polish film and consequently noncrystallinesubstances are preferred. Synthetic soaps such as sodium. lauryl sulfateor diglycol stearate are admirably suited for purposes of my invention.Such synthetic soaps are water soluble, substantially neutral,non-crystalline, and blend readily with the other ingredients used innail polish.

A suitable composition of nail polish embodying my invention follows,the proportions being by weight.

Solids Parts second viscosity nitro-cellulose 121 20 to 30 secondviscosity nitro-cellulose l0 Ethyl cellulose 15 Gum camphor 20 Solidresin-Santolite (toluene sulfonamlde formaldehyde) 39 Liquidresin--Hercolyn (dihydro methyl abietate) Dibutylphthalate (plasticizer)Sodium lauryl sulfate '7 Solvents Butyl acetate 190 Ethyl acetate 140Ethyl alcohol 140 Monethyl ether of ethylene glycol 80 Toluol 5'7 In theforegoing example, the water soluble sodium lauryl sulfate is employedin an amount which is about 3% of the total weight of solids, or about0.8% of the total weight of liquid polish. This percentage may be variedrather widely but is preferably maintained within the limits of 0.1 to5% of the total weight of polish, or 0.3 to 18% of the weight of totalsolids in the polish. Smaller amounts of a water soluble substance couldbe used but would have only a very slight effect on the perviousness ofthe film on the nail. Larger amounts of a water soluble substance thanindicated would seriously impair the desired qualities of gloss, wearresistance, and adhesion of the polish. The composition given may, ofcourse, be varied both as to proportions and ingredients to suit variousneeds. No coloring agent is included in the formulae given, it beingunderstood that dyes or pigments ofthe desired shade and character maybe added in a manner known to those skilled in this art.

I have found that a small proportion of a water soluble constituent ofthe order of about 1% of the total weight of the polish actuallyimproves the wearing qualities of the film on a nail. Where anabsolutely tight film of polish is applied, foreign matter mayaccumulate under the film near the tip of the nail and work back underthe film. A perivous film in accordance with my invention releases anysuch material which m ght otherwise gather under the film causing it tochip and peel off.

It will be apparent that water soluble substances other than soaps maybe useful in accordance with this invention.

The terms and expressions which I have employed are used as terms ofdescription and not of limitation, and I have no intention, in the useof such terms and expressions, of excluding any equivalent of thefeatures shown and described or portions thereof, but recognize thatvarious modifications are possible within the scope of the inventionclaimed.

I claim:

1. Liquid nail polish having a nitro-cellulose base and containing anamount not greater than 5% by weight of a substantially neutral watersoluble organic solid material.

2. Liquid nail polish comprising a solvent and a cellulose derivativebase, said polish containing an amount not greater than about 5% ofsodium lauryl sulfate.

3. Liquid nail polish comprising a solvent and a cellulose derivativebase, said polish containing an amount not greater than about 5% ofdiglycol stearate.

ROBERT J. ANDERSON.

